I am no economic wiz but this struck a cord and the extremely sad sinking feeling that this is really happening to our beloved land and our people, many of whom ask only for the right to a simple existence.
The behavior of Fiji's military regime thus far has only worsened our people's plight, and in the light of the plunging world economic recession, will no doubt get worse.
Future Investors take note of what Mr Bishop has to ask in his last comment. This is a fact. The FTIB one-stop shop, the sweet talk, and all the fast tracking of investment proposals in the world won't halt the fact that between FIRCA and the military, any investment in Fiji right now in this hostile regime will be hounded and doomed by these guys.
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Colin Bishop says:
The $7 Billion in lost economic activity from the Coup, and I believe this might be a conservative figure, means that every man, woman and child in Fiji has had $8000 taken away from their lifestyle. Every villager or cane farmer knows he is worse off than before but probably is unable to put a dollar amount to it.IslandBoy says in reply:
What I think is just as valid a point to consider is that the net effect of the loss, whatever the figure and basis of calculation, will have a much deeper and more detrimental effect on those at lower income levels.
This is not to belittle the effect on the well to do, but for me and the communities I am involved in, the loss of income and the loss of opportunity is not only more detrimental but is longer-lasting and just about destroys any real chance at recovery.
February 2, 2009 at 06:41
@Colin Bishop - The point I am reiterating is that the effects of the loss is much worse on those at or below the poverty line.
Never in the running for MENSA membership, I am unable to get my head around the fact that someone who was barely earning FJ$3,500 p.a. (the lucky ones) has just lost about $8,000 of that.
I don’t know how we arrive at negative nothing, but I can tell you that after the floods, I know what it looks like visually.
And to think, we once were considered the islands of sunshine and song!
Colin Bishop says in reply:
For those below the poverty line it is the loss of “lifestyle advantage” that are in hidden assets like the standard of free medical services, monies available to NGOs for basic assistance and the loss of chances of employment.
Typing this I know it sounds like crap when I am looking at photos sent to me of the village of two of my staff.
It looks similar to what I saw in Vietman as a young soldier. I have happy memories of spending nights and drinking grog in what now looks like a war zone.
I have arranged for alternate accommodation for the two families and have allowed them to charge the materials to rebuild against the Company. The additional loss in this years books will be insignificant.
Does anyone else in Fiji notice FIRCA is now operating like a demented fox terrier and questioning every nitpicking item at nauseum?
